Overlord Volume 2 Chapter 4 Part 2

Part 2

Registering Hamsuke itself was simple enough, but it took about one and a half hours. The most time-consuming part of the process was sketching an identification picture of Hamsuke by hand. While magic could have sped up the process, Ainz did not want to go to the extra expense of paying for a spell, which had led to this situation.

Ainz had to make up an excuse in order to avoid being labelled as petty.

"Although it's a little late to mention this, the whole 'I'm interested in drawing' excuse is getting old… Ah, forget it. Let's go over now," Ainz said to Narberal as he finished the registration, before he headed toward Hamsuke.

He had become used to it.

Since the merry-go-round was not the exclusive domain of the rich — or people with lovers or family — then it made no difference if a lonely older man rode it.

Having given up on himself, there was no hesitation in Ainz's movements.

Using his superior athletic ability, he mounted the Wise King of the Forest with a masterful vault. If he were an athlete, his name would have gone down in the history books. He did not have a saddle or reins, but several hours of experience was enough for Ainz to learn how to skillfully mount up.

The pedestrians were gasping in awe as far as his eyes could see. He could even hear the sounds of women screaming in excitement. In particular, he felt the piercing gazes of his fellow adventurers burning into him. After seeing the copper plate around Ainz's neck, their eyes went wide with disbelief.

I'm the one who should have a hard time believing this. What's wrong with your sense of aesthetics?

Just then, a voice called out to Ainz, interrupting the foolish questions in his heart and the process of ordering Hamsuke to move out.

"Say, would you be the people who went herb-picking with my grandson?"

The voice was an aged one. When he turned to look, he found an old granny.

"…And who might you be?"

He said that, but Ainz could guess at the answer. If this granny's words were genuine, then there could be only one answer to that question.

"My name is Lizzie Bareare. I'm Nfirea's grandmother."

"Ah! So it really was you? That's right, I'm one of the adventurers who escorted your grandson to Carne Village. My name is Momon, and this is Nabe."

Lizzie smiled to the bowing Narberal:

"She's an unbelievably beautiful girl. And what is the name of the creature you're riding?"

"It is the Wise King of Forest, Hamsuke."

"This one is Hamsuke! This one is very pleased to meet you!"

"What!? This mighty beast is the legendary Wise King of the Forest!?"

The adventurers around them who heard Lizzie's cry were even more surprised. With shocked looks on their faces, they whispered, "Is that really the monster of legends?" and so on.

"Indeed. After receiving your grandson's request, we encountered it at our destination and I managed to tame it."

"You actually… tamed the Wise King of the Forest…"

Lizzie was dumbstruck and could do nothing but stare.

"Then… where is my grandson now?"

"Ah, he went home first with the herbs. We're heading over there now to collect our payment."

The old lady breathed a sigh of relief, and then looked at Ainz with a strange look in her eyes:

"Oh, I see… then, shall we go together? I'm quite interested in you adventurer types."

To Ainz, Lizzie's suggestion was like a life preserver to a drowning man.

"Ah, the pleasure's all mine."

The group proceeded through the streets of E-Rantel, led by Lizzie.

♦ ♦ ♦

"Then, please come in."

Once they reached the storefront, Lizzie came to the front door and took out her keys. Then, she looked down, and pushed. The door swung open, without any resistance.

"What's this? This is too careless of him."

Lizzie muttered to herself as she entered the shop. Ainz and Narberal followed her.

"Nfirea, Momon-san's here—"

Lizzie's voice echoed through the shop, but it was silent. It felt as though there was nobody there.

"What happened?"

Lizzie was filled with confusion. Ainz, on the other hand, replied curtly:

"Trouble."

Lizzie heard, but did not understand. Ainz paid her no heed, but instead placed his hands on the hilts of his greatswords. Narberal figured out what he was up to from that action and she drew her sword as well.

"What, what are you doing!?"

"Don't ask, just follow."

With that clipped answer, Ainz drew his weapons and entered the store. He kicked the door open and kept to the right as he went in. Though this was a stranger's house, completely unfamiliar to him, there was no trace of hesitation in Ainz's footsteps.

Ainz came to a door which led down, and then turned to Lizzie, who had just caught up with him:

"What is this place for?"

"This, this is the herb storage room, it leads to the back door."

Although she was not sure what was going on, Lizzie sensed that something was wrong and began to worry. However, Ainz ignored her and pushed the door open.

What he smelled was not the scent of herbs, but a more acrid odour — the stench of blood.

The first people he saw were Peter and Lukrut. Dyne was a bit further beyond. Ninya was all the way inside the room. All of them were slumped against the walls. Their legs stuck forward and their arms drooped down lifelessly. They seemed to have lost all the blood in their bodies, which was now clotted on the ground so thickly that it looked black.

"This, what is this…"

A shocked Lizzie made to enter with shaky footsteps. Ainz put a hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving forward, and quickened his pace to get ahead of her.

Just then, the fallen Peter suddenly jerked like a puppet. However, before he could get up, the greatsword flashed across him.

Peter's head rolled to the ground. With the blade in his other hand, he decapitated Lukrut, who was halfway through standing up.

Just as Lizzie managed to process the shock of the tragedy before her, Dyne, who was somewhat further inside, had already risen to his feet.

The face which raised itself was not a living one. There was no color in it and its eyes were clouded. There was a hole in its forehead, instantly recognizable as a fatal injury.

There was only one reason why a dead man would move again — because he was undead.

"Zombie!"

Just as Lizzie cried out, Dyne groaned menacingly and lurched at them. Ainz immediately thrust his greatsword at Dyne. His throat pierced, Dyne's head shuddered and then he collapsed.

Nobody else moved.

Amidst the silence, Ainz stared at the unmoving Ninya.

"Nfirea!"

Lizzie finally realized what was going on, and began looking for her grandson. Ainz narrowed his eyes at her receding back, and gave Narberal an order.

"Protect her. My passive skill 「Undead Blessing」 isn't giving me any reactions, so there shouldn't be any more undead in the house. But there might be living people inside."

"Understood."

After a quick nod of her head, Narberal broke into a sprint to catch up with Lizzie.

Once he made sure that the two of them were gone, Ainz looked toward Ninya again. He kneeled slowly before him, and then gently touched the body. Once he was sure that there were none of the usual corpse boobytraps found in YGGDRASIL, he raised Ninya's face. Of course, he was not unconscious, but dead.

He must have been beaten by some sort of blunt object, given how his cheeks were bloated up like pomegranates. If Ainz did not know it was Ninya, he might not have recognized the corpse at all.

His left eye was crushed, and the vitreous humor had flowed out. It looked like he was crying.

The bones of his fingers were completely pulverized. The skin was split open, revealing the red muscle underneath. In some places, there was no muscle at all. Ainz pulled open Ninya's clothes, and his eyes went wide in surprise.

He closed up the garment, and muttered:

"…So even the body was…"

Much like the face, the body bore signs of a brutal beating. It was covered in the bruises of internal bleeding, and it would be harder to find a patch of uninjured flesh than the other way around.

Ainz gently closed Ninya's eyes.

"…This is a little… upsetting."

The sound of his murmurs faded into the air.

♦ ♦ ♦

"My grandson! Nfirea's gone!"

Lizzie returned, shouting at the top of her voice Ainz had gathered all the corpses into a corner of the room, and calmly replied:

"I checked their gear. None of them were searched. That being the case, the opposition must have intended to kidnap Nfirea."

"Oh!"

"Come see this."

Ainz pointed to the letters written in blood under Ninya's corpse. They would not be visible unless someone moved them.

"This is… the sewers? Does it mean he was taken to the sewers?"

"…It might be a trap set by the person who did this, and I have no idea how big the sewers are… searching them might take a long time. What do you think?"

"There's numbers there, 2-8, what could that mean?"

"Those are even more suspicious. Although I don't know what those numbers mean… but I can guess that you can divide the city into eight sections, or it might just be a simple 2-8… although, did Ninya really have the time to think of all that? Even if Ninya did write it, how much could he have learned from the enemy? This is far too much of a coincidence."

Lizzie frowned her already wrinkled face, directing something that approached anger at Ainz, who was analyzing the entire situation with unexpected calmness. Then she looked at the four corpses on the ground.

"Who are these people?"

"…They were the adventurers your son hired, who went with us. After we parted ways, they should have come to help him unload the herbs."

"What!? Then they're your comrades, aren't they?"

Ainz shook his head:

"No, they were not. We just happened to be adventuring together."

His cold words chilled Lizzie to the bone, and she had no desire to pursue the matter further.

"Come to think of it, I've been thinking about their corpses, but I'd like your opinion. What do you think about them being turned into Zombies?"

"…「Create Undead」. That means the enemy has someone who can use at least third tier magic. I don't know anything else apart from that."

"I think we need to think of something quickly."

"Isn't that obvious… what do you mean by that?"

"…The enemy could have used mind control or hidden the corpses, but they did not do that at all. They seemed to have done it for fun. Otherwise, they did it because they were absolutely sure they would not be exposed, or that they were completely confident in their ability to escape. Hm… I don't know which of them it was. Since they could make Zombies, they could have brought the corpses back with them, right?"

If they wanted to kidnap Nfirea, all they would have to do was hide the bodies, which would have bought them enough time to escape. However, the enemy did not do that, which meant that they had other things to do, or because they wanted Lizzie to do something.

The latter was easier to deal with. It was the former which was tricky. Nfirea's life and talent were valuable, but they might not be able to use them for long. Would these cruel people who could kill without blinking an eye let him live after using him up?

After Lizzie realised the meaning hidden in Ainz's words, her gray face turned white. With no idea where he had been taken in this gigantic city, they would need to search the whole of E-Rantel, which would take far too long.

Their only clue was the sewers, but Ainz had his doubts about it.

The flame of Nfirea's life was ebbing away with each passing moment.

Ainz calmly turned to the panicked Lizzie and asked:

"How about hiring us?"

The cold voice continued:

"Isn't this something you should hire an adventurer for?"

A light came on in Lizzie's eyes as she understood what Ainz was getting at.

"You are a very lucky woman, Lizzie Bareare. At the moment, I am the strongest adventurer in this city, and the only one who can save your grandson's life. If you hire me, I will accept your request. However… the price will be very high, because I am fully aware of how troublesome this task might be."

"That, that's right… if it was you… the one who possessed that potion… and with the Wise King of the Forest… then there's no doubt about your strength… I'll hire, I'll hire you!"

"Is that so… are you prepared to pay a high price for this?"

"How much will it take to satisfy you?"

"—Everything."

"What?"

"Give me everything you have."

Lizzie's eyes widened in shock, and her body trembled violently.

"Everything you have. When I safely return Nfirea to you, give me everything you have."

"You…"

Backing away in fear, Lizzie muttered:

"When you say everything… you don't mean money or rare potions… I've heard that demons will grant any wish in return for men's souls. Are you a demon?"

"…And what if I was? Do you want to save your grandson?"

Lizzie did not respond, silently biting her lip.

"Then there's only one answer, right?"

"Umu… I'll hire you. I'll give you everything I have, so please save my grandson!"

"Very well, the pact is sealed. Then, let's not waste time. Do you have a map of this city? If you do, lend it to me."

Lizzie had her doubts, but she still handed the map to Ainz immediately.

"Then, we shall find Nfirea's location next."

"Can you do such a thing!?"

"Only this time. Just this one time, I can. I don't know if the enemy was stupid or…"

As Ainz's voice trailed off halfway, he turned to look at the four corpses resting within the room.

"Then, I shall begin the search. Go look in the other rooms and see if the people who kidnapped Nfirea left any clues behind. If kidnapping Nfirea was itself a distraction, that would make things troublesome. You're familiar with this home, so you're better suited to this."

After thinking up a reason to get Lizzie out of the room, Ainz turned to Narberal.

"May I ask what you intend?"

"Simple. Look, their adventurer's plates are all missing, probably taken by the person who attacked this place. The question now is why they didn't take anything more valuable, but these plates… what do you think?"

"My apologies, but I have no idea."

"That's because—"

Halfway through, a voice spoke in Ainz's mind. It was the 「Message」 spell.

『Ainz-sama.』

The voice was somewhat high-pitched, and there was something like rustling in the background.

"Is that you, Entoma?"

『Yes, it is me.』

It was Entoma Vasilisa Zeta. She was a member of the Pleiades, like Narberal.

『I have a report to deliver.』

"—I'm busy now. I'll contact you again when I'm free."

『Understood. Please contact Albedo-sama as soon as possible.』

The spell ended, and Ainz continued replying to Narberal, who was looking at him:

"They were trophies, loot from hunting. Probably a memento for the killer to remember them by. However, that was a fatal mistake. Narberal, use these scrolls."

Ainz pulled a scroll from his Infinite Backpack and handed it to Narberal.

"This is a scroll of 「Locate Object」. I trust I don't have to tell you what to look for?"

"Understood."

With that acknowledgement, Narberal opened the scroll. Just as she was about to activate it, Ainz grabbed her hand and coldly rebuked Narberal:

"…Idiot."

Narberal's shoulder shuddered as Ainz scolded her.

"My, my apologies!"

"When using divination-type magic, you need to prepare yourself thoroughly against the enemy's counter-detection spells before casting it. This is an ironclad rule. When considering that the opposition might use 「Detect Locate」, it's a basic precaution to use 「False Cover」, 「Counter Detect」, and the like to protect yourself. Also—"

Ainz prepared about ten more scrolls, and explained the function of each one to Narberal like a teacher.

When using magic to collect information, one had to protect oneself. This was basic knowledge.

When Ainz Ooal Gown PKed, they gathered as much information on the opposition as possible and then launched an ambush to swiftly decide the matter. Simply put, "the battle is over before it begins," as stated by the guild member Punitto Moe in the text named "PKing for Dummies."

Therefore, Ainz was now teaching these skills to Narberal, so they would have the advantage if they encountered other players in the future.

"—That's basically it. The fact is, you still need to use skills to improve the effectiveness of your spells and defend yourself, but I don't think we need to prepare so much against our enemy this time. After all, if the opposition was a magic caster who knew more spells to deal with the enemy, they wouldn't have simply cast that level of spells on the corpses. Then, begin, Narberal."

A relieved Narberal carefully opened a scroll and recited the name of the spell inscribed upon it.

A heatless flame engulfed the scroll, consuming it within seconds and releasing the magic locked within.

She did the same with all the other scrolls, and only after sheathing herself in countless protective spells did she finally cast 「Locate Object」. After that, she pointed to a location on the map:

"There."

Ainz could not understand the characters, and racked his brains for some clue as to where "there" was.

"…The graveyard, huh. As I thought, it wasn't the sewers after all."

E-Rantel was also a military base, and the graveyard was massive, almost the largest of its size. The spell pointed to the deepest reaches of the graveyard.

"I see. Then, use 「Clairvoyance」 next. Combine it with 「Crystal Monitor」 so I can see as well."

Narberal activated the scrolls once more, and the image floating in mid-air revealed countless human shapes. However, their movements were oddly stiff. In addition, there were many inhuman objects within the image.

There was a boy in their midst. He was dressed strangely, but there was no mistake about him.

"So he's definitely there. And the metal plates should be nearby… hm, a big mass of undead?"

There was a group of undead around Nfirea. They were all low tier undead, but they were present in surprising numbers.

"…What do you plan to do? Teleport in and wipe them all out at once? Or perhaps use flight magic to attack them from above?"

"Don't be silly. Wouldn't either of those methods mean that the problem gets solved without anyone knowing about it?"

Seeing that Narberal had no idea of what he was talking about, Ainz continued his explanation:

"Whoever created all these undead must have done so in preparation for something of earthshaking proportions. Therefore, if we save Nfirea and deal with that matter at the same time, it will greatly boost our reputations. If we do this on the quiet, we will only receive Lizzie's payment, and we won't be able to gain much fame from it."

That said, if they did not take care of the situation quickly, there was a high chance that Nfirea might die. Even Ainz could not summon this many undead and control them, so there must have been some sort of trick at work here. Nfirea's life might well be an important part of that trick.

That said, he wanted to know the secret of that trick, even if it cost Nfirea's life.

The most important thing to Ainz was how to strengthen the Great Tomb of Nazarick. If he could do so by sacrificing Nfirea, then he would gladly pay that price.

"I'd like to collect more information, but our preparations and time won't allow it," Ainz muttered as he approached the door. After opening it, he shouted:

"Lizzie! We're ready. We're heading to the graveyard now!"

"What about the sewers?"

Lizzie's voice came from far away, accompanied by the patapata of her running footsteps.

"The sewer is just a red herring which the author of this tragedy left for us. They're actually in the graveyard, together with an army of undead. There's easily thousands of them there."

"What!?"

Of course it was an estimate. How could he have counted all of them?

"No need to be shocked. We intend to cut a path through them. The problem is that we can't guarantee that undead army won't escape from the graveyard. You need to tell as many people as possible to hold the undead back if they see them spilling out. There's no proof, but I'm sure that a lot of people will be willing to listen to a big name like you. If the undead ran wild and there was nobody stopping them… that would be troublesome, no?"

Ainz's face twisted under his helmet.

If I don't make a grand spectacle of this, it'll be a pain. The more I heat this up, the more fame I'll earn when I solve the problem. That's why I'm doing this, after all.

"That's all I have to say. Time is tight, so I'll be heading over right now."

"Do you have a way to break through that army of the dead?"

Ainz looked quietly at Lizzie, and then pointed to the greatswords on his back.

"Don't you see it right here?"